Keybank Vermont City Marathon brings in millions

State and marathon officials calculate the economic impact of 25-year-old event in the millions.

May 18, 2013

The KeyBank Vermont City Marathon draws thousands to Burlington every Memorial Day weekend. State and marathon officials estimate the economic impact is in the millions, based on estimates of what visitors spend on lodging, food and retail. / Free Press file

It’s money well spent. The marathon will return approximately $3.5 million to the state economy, Delaney said, based on an estimate formulated three years ago. He hopes to update that figure in the next year or two.

“I’ve had people tell us it’s way too conservative, and the opposite,” Delaney said. “We just make some assumptions based on the number of people coming to town for the event. We use numbers like an average lodging rate of $150 a night, $65 for food and beverage over the course of two days, $15 for gas and transportation, $15 for retail. We’re fairly conservative.”

The State of Vermont has arrived at a similar number, says Steve Cook, deputy commissioner of the Department of Tourism and Marketing. The tourism department looked at the 2011 marathon, which drew 3,842 runners from out of state. Applying a multiplier of 1.5 for friends and family accompanying those runners, that added another 5,763 visitors for a total visitor count of 9,605.

For out-of-state visitors, the tourism department figured an average of $142 spent per day on lodging, food and beverage, gas, shopping and recreation, plus the registration fee for the marathon for a total of $1.69 million.

For in-state marathoners, numbering 4,301, the tourism department figured average spending of $66.31 for total estimated spending of $1.13 million. Add the two figures together and the tourism department came up with a total impact of about $2.82 million, compared to Delaney’s estimate of $3.5 million.

Indirect impact

Cook also points out the marathon has more economic impact than the dollars and cents it brings directly into the state.

“You look at the direct economic impact of an event such as this, and this is a big one,” Cook said. “The Vermont City Marathon is a big one not just for its direct economic impact, but also for its representation of Vermont’s brand, Vermont being one of the healthiest states and one of the cleanest states. This event fits right in.”

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Delaney too is well aware of the “intangible” value the marathon brings to Vermont, drawing runners from all 50 states, a fair number of them coming here for their first marathon.

“When they leave here with a positive experience it creates an awful lot of word of mouth,” Delaney said. “The social media has really come to the forefront of events like this, generating a lot more interest and touches for Burlington, for Vermont, for Lake Champlain, for everybody who’s involved.”

Some runners program their race times to automatically uploaded to their Facebook accounts and Twitter pages, Delaney said.

“That all extends the reach of the marathon,” he said.

Delaney is expecting between 3,400 and 3,500 marathoners this year, with 80 percent coming from out of state, and some 4,700 relay runners — teams that split up the 26.2-mile distance — and 80 percent of those runners come from within Vermont, so “it’s nicely balanced,” Delaney says.

Added benefit

The marathon is also an important fundraiser, generating a little more than $225,000 for local nonprofits. This year a number of organizations, ranging from Fletcher Allen to Outright Vermont have relay teams raising money in conjunction with the marathon.

KeyBank has sponsored the marathon for years, and Brigitte Ritchie, director of public affairs and community relations, says it has been a good relationship.

“The event is good for business,” Ritchie said. “We get thousands of thank you letters from runners and positive comments from customers and clients.”

The bank itself has 25 teams running in the marathon, with runners coming from KeyBank operations in Maine, Ohio, Colorado and New York in addition to Vermont.

“There’s nothing like it,” Ritchie said. “It’s the largest marathon event in the country for a community our size. It’s great visibility for the bank, but also an event that clients and employees participate in and feel good about.”

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger puts it a slightly different way.

“I just think it’s one of the things that contributes to Burlington being a special place and punching above its weight class,” he says.